Robyn Edie / Stuff
Invercargill was the last stop of a 13-day road trip for Sir John Kirwan to speak about and raise money for his mental health program Mitey.
Sir John Kirwan’s $1 million fundraising goal was met when his nationwide tour rolled into Invercargill on Tuesday.
The 63-test former All Black left Auckland on June 30 and drove across the country to speak with schools, community groups and fundraisers to gain support for his mental health program, Mitey.
Mitey teaches mental health, as well as reading, writing and arithmetic in schools, with a specialist teacher.
Kirwan was diagnosed with anxiety-induced depression and said that as a young man his reference point for mental health was the 1975 film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
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“I had a disease that is fatal and on the other hand, it’s damn good,” Kirwan said.
Seventy schools are currently taking advantage of the Mitey program and another 300 are on the waiting list. The program took place at six schools in Southland and had reached 12,000 children nationwide, he said.
Some moments of the road trip that stood out were 11-year-old Luke coming to him in Dunedin to donate $10 out of pocket.
Kirwan felt that children today were more advanced than when he was that age.
At a school in Christchurch, an 11-year-old stood up and asked what the program’s stance was on homophobia.
At another stop, a woman told Kirwan that her 21-year-old daughter had committed suicide the week before.
“The road trip is confirmation of how much this is” [programme] is necessary,” said Kirwan.
The $1 million goal would pay 11,000 kids to do Mitey, he said.
Kirwan said the road trip had been exhausting, but he will get to see his Italy-based professional footballer’s son Niko in the coming weeks, for the first time in two and a half years.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Sir John Kirwan was pictured Tuesday with Cairns’ siblings, from left, Ben Cairns, 13, Sam, 9 and Matthew, 12, at the Ascot Park Hotel, as he spoke about his mental health program Mitey.
Asked about his opinion on the next All Black test in Wellington this weekend, he believed the ABs would need a better tactical kick game, positional and possession bets, a flawless game and no cards.
He thought that coach Ian Foster would go with more experience, like David Havili and Sam Whitelock coming in, changing the loose strikers and maybe Scott Barrett to come back at six.
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